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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Neat little website!

I came across this plain-looking website and almost zipped right on by, but I'm glad I changed my mind! It's not cutesy, flashy, or even all that interesting to look at so you'll have to make yourself look around and I think you'll be glad you did!!!

Softschool.com offers all subject areas, including some foreign languages, and all grade levels. There are even some specifics like phonics and handwriting for lower grades. You'll also find holidays and themes.

Of course my focus was on middle school math and I found several things I liked.

My favorite quick game was Integer Number Line! This could be used at a center, or I love the idea of using this as a whole-class warm-up or closing is you have an ActivBoard or Smart Board in your classroom.

The Integers and Real Numbers Quiz was very good! I can see having this ready on a classroom computer for those early-finishers. The questions required a fair amount of thinking and the student will get a score at the end.

There are many other games and pre-made quizzes. You'll also find a large number of worksheets that can be filled in on the computer by the student or printed.

I'm NOT a fan of worksheets, but these include excellent examples to pull from for use as warm-ups, reviews, quizzes, or my favorite, using the 'meat' of the problem to create a rich, real-life question for the students to solve. It's so much easier (and saves brain-power) to create a good problem when the numbers are already there for you to work with!

Head over and check out Softschool.com now! This would be a great site to share with your lower-grade teacher friends, too!